La D’Oro: A Japanese love affair with Italy

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La D’Oro: A Japanese love affair with Italy

La D’Oro at Mandarin Gallery Singapore impresses with its opulent décor and captivating cuisine

La D’Oro head chef Yohhei Sasaki

October 2022

Franco-Japanese cuisine is generally revered by gourmands and considered the synergistic culmination of two refined cooking styles. Think Michelin-starred examples like Rêve in Singapore and L’Effervescence in Tokyo.

On the other hand, Japanese-Italian fusion is usually perceived as less elegant and more often than not associated with less sophisticated eats like pasta and pizza. Not at La D’Oro, though.

This upscale restaurant at Mandarin Gallery not only looks the part with the requisite décor of dark stone and soft leather but also a glass-walled cellar of expensive wine.

On one side of the trophy bottles is a relatively open dining area with a bar in front – the casual side of La D’Oro. On the other side, up three thick carpeted steps through a sliding door, is its more exclusive alternative called La D’Oro Fine Dining – a more private space with counter seating and the personal attention of Chef Sasaki Yohhei.

La D’Oro Fine Dining’s omakase space

The good chef is no stranger to Singapore, having lived here for 11 years with stints at L’Operetta, Forlino and il Cielo. Before arriving in the Lion City, he worked in Ginza, Tokyo for six years, then in Tuscany, Italy for five years, immersing himself in Italian cuisine and all things Italia. So much so that he could pass for a bona fide Italiano except for the fact that his mamma mia is Nihonjin.

But it is his deep understanding of both cuisines and cultures that takes his gastronomic creations to a level way above mere fusion food.

There are two dinner menus – S$188 for five courses and S$258 for eight.

The latter starts with three snacks in a tall glass tower – a small croquette of snow crab crowned with caviar; anchovy and yuzu on bruschetta; and isaki or chicken grunt sashimi on a rice cracker.

On the side, Chef Sasaki serves freshly shaved Raspadura cheese curls – a bit like Parmigiano but milder in taste – to be nibbled on its own or atop walnut bread or brioche.

Next comes grilled mackerel on burrata sauce and ginger flower, smoked together with a pressed eggplant made to look like a leaf.

Wagyu carpaccio consommé

Even more interesting is the snow-aged A4 wagyu with porcini mushrooms – both in cream and powder form – and sprinkled with truffle. It is first eaten as is, then with the addition of wagyu consommé from a shot glass.

Before you wonder about the Italian connection, up comes a quenelle of linguini topped with bafun uni or sea urchin for a rich and smooth segue into grilled tachiuo or belt fish with basil pesto and black garlic foam a la a traditional Trapanese sauce.

Then it’s the main course, with a choice of A5 wagyu and green apple sauce or duck breast with chanterelle mushroom and chestnut.

Chef special aglio olio

As in a typical Japanese meal that ends with some rice, there is also a carbo course at La D’Oro but with an intriguing twist – aglio olio that diners can select as a “20”, “30”, “50” or “100”.

The number chosen is actually the weight of the pasta in grams. It is served in a thick sauce, made from a reduction of chicken broth that combined French, black and Australian birds, and eaten with chopsticks (the way the chef ate it when he was working in Italy and didn’t have much money). This chef’s special is so deliciously and unctuously savoury that one regular customer orders it as a “200”.

Ending on a sweet note are two desserts – a sorbet made with the unthinkable combo of calamansi and Yamagata cola jelly, and Kyoho grapes with jackfruit espuma.

With a menu that is as inventive as it is refined, it won’t be long before La D’Oro raises the profile of Japanese-Italian cuisine and changes perceptions about it.

La D’Oro: A Japanese love affair with Italy

La D’Oro: A Japanese love affair with Italy

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